{"id":124153,"date":"2025-12-02T06:13:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T05:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=124153"},"modified":"2025-12-02T06:13:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T05:13:37","slug":"afcon-2025-nigerian-referees-shut-out-of-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/afcon-2025-nigerian-referees-shut-out-of-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"AFCON 2025: Nigerian Referees Shut Out of Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Oscar Okhifo<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nigeria has been completely shut out of officiating at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, with no referee or assistant from the country selected among the 73 match officials named by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the tournament.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a list published by CAF on Sunday, a total of 73 match officials, comprising referees, assistant referees, video assistant referees (VAR) and technical instructors, were selected from across Africa to officiate at the tournament.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, Nigeria, a country widely regarded as one of Africa\u2019s football powerhouses, was noticeably absent from the list.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The absence of Nigerian referees has sparked concerns and reactions within football circles, with many expressing disappointment given Nigeria\u2019s long history of producing top-class match officials who have previously officiated at major CAF and FIFA competitions.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Countries such as Morocco, Egypt, Senegal, Algeria, South Africa and C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire dominated the list, supplying multiple officials each.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Host nation Morocco also had a strong representation, reflecting CAF\u2019s trend of involving experienced officials from football-advanced nations.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Football analysts believe Nigeria\u2019s exclusion may be linked to performance assessments, officiating evaluations from previous tournaments, or failure by Nigerian officials to meet CAF\u2019s technical and fitness benchmarks during qualifying seminars.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A senior official of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the development as \u201cpainful and embarrassing,\u201d adding that it should serve as a wake-up call to Nigerian football authorities.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThis should make us go back to the basics. Our referees must be retrained, properly supported and adequately exposed to international best practices,\u201d the official said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another football stakeholder was more blunt in his assessment, describing Nigeria\u2019s total exclusion as a serious indictment of the country\u2019s refereeing system.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIf this is not a vote of no confidence, I wonder what else to call it. This is not good at all,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some former referees also blamed the situation on poor welfare, lack of consistent training programmes, and limited international exposure for Nigerian officials, warning that the country risks losing its influence in African football administration if urgent reforms are not carried out.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nigeria has historically produced high-profile referees such as Rufus Okpara, Linus Mba, Joseph Ogabor and Sunday Adeniji, who once officiated at major continental and global tournaments.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles set to participate in AFCON 2025, stakeholders have called on CAF to ensure neutrality and fairness in officiating, especially for countries whose officials were not selected.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The decision has further reignited calls for a total overhaul of refereeing structures in Nigeria, including improved funding, better training facilities, and strategic mentorship for young referees.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As AFCON\u00a0 draws closer, the spotlight will now turn to the Nigeria Football Federation to address all noticeable and hidden lapses. It&#8217;s high time Nigeria took back the reign as the king of African male football.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Oscar Okhifo Nigeria has been completely shut out of officiating at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, with no referee or assistant from the country selected among the 73&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":124154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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